It’s been a year of new people and friends. I’ve acquired many new friends who were completely fresh and a wonderful set of people. I simply cannot put in words the very idea of new people entering my life. Meeting new people, interacting with them and befriending them have always been fun. If these new people have not traced their path into my life, I would have mulled over the monotonous array of events that was decelerating my course of life. I would not extend my courtesy to you by acknowledging your inclusion with a ‘Thanks for being there’ and thereby forcing a compulsive formality in our relationship. I would like to keep things informal.

A week back, I woke up from a deep sleep early in the wee hours of the morning to find myself lying in the bed, clutching the pillow tight.

Thank God I’m back, Home – This is what I thought for some time and then slowly recalled what I saw scene by scene…

***

The living area seemed to be so familiar.

Yes.

It’s my home. Something was bothering me. Yes, The world outside is going to come to an end. But how? That’s the question which stabbed my heart. I was searching frantically for some book.

I screamed, “It’s there in the book. It is written how the thing will happen”.

I searched the book, without knowing, what the book is all about. I kept reminding myself the page number in which it was written. I looked at all places, and finally spotted my computer table, in which I found the book intact with the surface of the table. I could feel the cold gush of air in the face. I could feel the chilling electric pulse traversing from my central spine to all over the nerve junctions. I crouched towards the table to pick it up and opened the page in which the ‘thing’ was written. I wanted to read that single page which decided the next few moments. I felt, the world outside would get destroyed any time. I could imagine the cracks appearing in the roads ready for its destruction and its journey into the deep unfathomable cavity extending underneath the surface of earth!

I extended my hands to reach for the book. The scene changes!!! **Sigh**

***

I walk in a big campus resembling the Infy campus in MCity. I could see big posh buildings, dazzling in blue and green glasses, reflecting the sunlight which appears to be some known university in a foreign country. I was in my thick blue jeans with a full sleeved turtleneck T-shirt covered with a long brownish cloak, covering my body till the knees. I could see myself walking hurriedly towards a glass door entrance, with an old book with parchment type of hard bounded cover and an ancient symbol beveled in its center. I read a particular page with some unknown symbols and markings scribbled in the top empty space in the page. I kept walking along the pathway into the Corridor, where I could spot a few other boys and girls strolling randomly towards various entrances to halls.

I was about to turn the next page, just then someone who passed by me, yanked the book from my hand closing it with a THUD and then stuffed it back in my hands, snapping, “Don’t read all this here. It’s barred here. Don’t you know?”

I looked at him in bewilderment and snapped back, “Why is it that? Can’t you see I’m reading things and see the symbols I’ve noted down, here?”

He didn’t seem to show any interest in my argument. He picked up his mobile and walked away. I kept looking at him and suddenly I rushed towards the staircase in the corridor and kept walking in it until I reached a room which appeared to be a classroom. It was full of students. I thought I was going to deliver some lectures to them and I did not feel like a student in the university which I had thought earlier. I was about to enter the classroom, just then the scene changes again!

***

I was walking in the streets of Triplicane looking at the things around me. This is my place where I stayed in Chennai for the past 12 years. Now, I had reached the road which was perpendicular to our street. I marched forward looking at the world outside my house. It seemed to be normal but as I crossed two junctions which came in between, I could see the cars and almost all the vehicles are parked in the traffic bringing the environment to a standstill. Nothing seemed to move. Looking straight ahead, I could see an array of vehicles jammed in the road and it was crowded as if some disaster is scheduled to happen.

I walk past various cars and autos parked in the middle of the road. I was terrified. I still couldn’t visualize the disaster that’s going to happen. As all chennaites know very well that, Triplicane is located near the Marina beach and it is walkable distance from the place, I need not explain where the beach is. I kept advancing towards the end of the road. I could see many people standing outside their houses and looking at things very uneasily. There were lots of worried faces which I could easily spot. Almost all of them have come out and were holding feared looks in the faces.

I didn’t know how far I had walked; suddenly I could see the sea and its water level has risen considerably. I didn’t know, Marina encroached this much of land beside it. The water level was deliberately high. Usually, whenever I look at the beach, standing on the shores, facing the waters, I had always looked down as the shores are always elevated. But for the first time in my life, I was looking up at an elevation angle of about 60 degrees above the normal eye sight. I couldn’t digest the fact that, I’m not standing in the shores which will be usually sandy where we can find Sundalhawker, boats, ice cream and Balloon Shooting stalls and a sparsely distributed population of affectionate duos performing the intimate game plays in the vast open space, but I’m standing in the well-polished tar roads which were laid for the last week parliamentary elections.

I could see the waters have engulfed the dry sandy shores into its buoyancy and people are standing in the road that runs parallel to it. In no time, I could hear the waves emitting a mystical hum and the water body visible to my eyes started ebbing out. The clouds above the water body took weird shapes and darkened. I couldn’t control my fearful excitement. The darkened clouds formed a weird image resembled to be a face of a human being, like that of lord Voldemort’s image that used to appear in the sky, whenever death eaters cast the dark symbol in the Harry Potter series. I immediately took out my mobile from my shorts and launched the Camera application in it (I’m still confused as to why I wanted to take the picture of that face in the sky, when the world is actually about to come to an end). How did my mobile find its way into my shorts pocket? I never reminisced carrying it with me, when I started from home. Well dreams always leave you with many questions unanswered.

I took out my cell, gazed the sky and tried clicking the image and the whole devastating scene in front of my eyes that nobody could imagine – A sea ebbing out which is already at a higher elevation than the usual one and ready to pounce on the human population and engulfing the lands, hauling everything inside it. But the time I was to register what is happening, I found myself inside the water, floating in an unknown height and depth. I went unconscious and suddenly the scene changed as usual.

***

I was clutching very lightly without any efforts, the outer surface of a huge cylindrical hollow tower edifice which can hold 2 to 3 persons vertically in its hollow circular enclosure, situated at some safe distance from the beach. I could see the water body flowing into the lands and roads underneath it, getting slowly swallowed by the demonic waves. I still hold the metallic edifice clutching its cylindrical surface on its top and yelling at the image which appeared in the sky.

“Let it happen the way you wanted. I’ll see what can be done,” I challenged the dark face.

I could feel some force which was holding me close to the cylindrical structure. I felt easy to be held in its proximity, with myself at the topmost part of it. I did not hold it tight. I was just spreading my hands around it and the circumference was so large that, I couldn’t hold my palms of both my hands, together on the other side. So you can imagine how I was being held to its surface like a magnetic levitated train in its electromagnetic tracks. To be very simple, I felt like Spiderman sticking to the surface of the tower. Well I nested a small pride in me to have challenged some evil force which was trying to destroy the world by agitating the water body of world’s second largest beach!! (Heights of dreaming!!)

Now I started descending down the pillar and felt as how I’ve been operated by someone. I drifted smoothly on the cylindrical surface without being held anywhere or suffering intense pain or scratch. The bright world outside slowly started disappearing and an enclosure has started appearing around the pillar. I was descending down in the hollow space between the enclosure and the hollow pillar like structure. The darkness has already surrounded me. But I could see an aura of light around me, just me alone. I could see the inscriptions which have been inscribed on the surface of the edifice. I was still descending down. I was comfortable descending down as how the elevators descend down the floors. Suddenly, I remembered something was written beside the image which I saw in the sky, the darkened image formed by the clouds. I wanted to recall that. So in that instant, I was again ascending upward the edifice. I reached the top of the tower again. I could see the sea and the terrific waters flowing mercilessly into the city. The city was getting heavily water logged. Slowly the roads, houses, and buildings have started disappearing in the water. I could again see the face and the text which was formed beside it through the dark clouds. Satisfied, I again descended down the tower effortlessly.

To my surprise, I found this undeniable truth that, it was none other than me who was controlling my traverse upward and downward. Nobody was controlling it. I felt as if I’m controlling my life and my dream. I could clearly see that I’m in a dream and I could do all weird things like controlling my traverse up and down by just giving a thought about it. I calmed myself and held the pillar close to me and started my descend down into the deep hollow black space that lay beneath me. This cylindrical pillar was my only ray of hope and light to this journey of descend, which I’ve been subjected myself to. I found myself getting into a state of mental stability. The downward journey into the vast pitch black hollow beneath me was happening at ease. I was breathing normally.

It would have been some hours of time, ticked away. I still found myself descending into the oblivion. Suddenly the velocity at which I was travelling encountered retardation in the motion and the journey came to a halt as my feet touched a solid base of something.

I detached myself from the structure which was holding me all throughout the journey and looked down to get a view of the staircase. The staircase was made of metal with the most intricate artistic works in its design. The spiral steps looked very ancient like that of the steps in the British style bungalows. I was involuntarily getting down the steps and I reached the doors which seemed to be half open. I reminded myself about preparing for some lecture to be given to students who have gathered in a large seminar hall. I quickly entered the door to find a bunch of university students waiting for someone. As soon as I entered the hall, they started moving towards a particular classroom which seemed to be attached to the hall. The hall was brightly ventilated with the gleaming yellowish ambience spreading all over the hall.

I walked into one of the classrooms. I could see around five to six students who were sitting opposite to each other in the classroom tables and were chatting. The girls were in their sleeveless tights and jeans and were excited seeing me in the class. It looked as if a gang of friends were chatting happily in the recess break after a session of lecture. I happily joined them remembering my own college days. They welcomed me with “yaay…yo”. In that group, one of the girls looked at me. I was confused as whether I’m a professor who is visiting this campus for a guest lecture or a student who has enrolled for a course in MS in some weird discipline say Symbology in some foreign university in UK. Images of Dan brown and Robert Langdon hovered in front of me. I could recollect the pages I have read from the “The Lost Symbol” last night in the bus. The way he has explained the interior of the US Capitol building was haunting my mind. The girl came to me. She was nearing me. I knew what she is about to do. She had a titillating looks in her face. She looked stunningly beautiful. I couldn’t resist the delay. I wanted to go and grab her and….

I woke up with a heavy pounding heart. Searched for my mobile and saw the time. It was 3.30 AM. I opened my eyes completely, chafed it twice or thrice and kept thinking about what I saw. I remembered many things immediately post dream – 2012, Movie trailer, 2012 theories, The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown, Robert Langdon, Harry potter, my willingness to do an MBA abroad, interest in cryptography, passion for getting a new touch screen mobile and many other things which I was so passionate about. These things have collectively shown its face in various events.

***

Well, I recalled everything and dozed off. Usually we used to forget what we see in the dreams as soon as we get up in the morning. But this dream I really wanted remember. I wanted to blog about this. It may look very silly but still I wanted this to write this somewhere and share with others. For those who think this is all crap and I’m so silly, I admit I’m silly and don’t wanted to be in one of those mature grown up frowning serious male category. And for all those who enjoyed this, let me know what you felt about this.